Great question, and it depends on your project! Here's how pricing works.

Digitizing photos, negatives, and slides

• Print photos, negatives, and slides (including Kodachrome slides) are digitized at $125 per hour.
• That hourly rate covers the full process: removing photos from albums, sorting, organizing, digitizing, adding metatagging, and uploading to the cloud.
• Photos that are difficult to remove from an album, such as those stuck to the page, are handled with extra care at the same hourly rate.

Every collection is different, so the total depends on the size, type, and condition of your collection. Your written good faith estimate, provided within 72 hours of pickup or drop-off, will give you the ballpark before any work begins.

How to get an accurate number

The best way to get an accurate number is to start with a free photo consultation. From there:

1. Project Start Payment. A $500 Project Start Payment reserves time on my calendar.
2. Pickup. I come to you for pickup, or you can drop off your collection in North Bellmore.
3. Good faith estimate. I inventory your collection, and within 72 hours of pickup or drop-off, I'll provide a written good faith estimate, so you'll know the size of your total collection and the ballpark we're dealing with. You can decide then whether to continue.
4. Organization. I start by sorting and organizing your collection.
5. Preservation and digitization. Next, your photos are carefully preserved and digitized.
6. Meta tags and keywords. Finally, I add meta tags and keywords to your photos. This is one of the most valuable parts of a digital collection, because it lets you search for and find any photo at a moment's notice.

Digitizing old media

• $25 per tape transfer: VHS, VHS-C, DVD, Hi8, or MiniDV, plus a 64 GB USB thumb drive for $40
• $35 per 16mm, 8mm, and Super 8 film reel, 4.5" and under, with synchronous audio capture
• $65 per 16mm, 8mm, and Super 8 film reel, 5" and over, with synchronous audio capture

External storage (required to save your photos and videos)

• USB thumb drive, 64 GB: $40
• USB thumb drive, 1 TB: $200
• SanDisk 1 TB Pro Portable External Drive: $250
• SanDisk 2 TB Pro Portable External Drive: $275

Video montages

• Starting at $495, including 100 photos

Your free photo consultation is by phone or Zoom, whichever you prefer. When you’re ready to start, a $500 Project Start Payment reserves time on my calendar.

It covers:

• My travel if I come to you, at $62.50 per hour each way
• The inventory of your collection, at $125 per hour
• Your written good faith estimate, within 72 hours of pickup or drop-off

I won’t go over $500 before you see your estimate unless you approve it first. Any balance goes toward the organization phase of your project.

If you decide not to go forward, I’ll refund the unused balance. You’re responsible for the $62.50 per hour return trip, or you can pick up your photos in North Bellmore at no charge.

Either works. I can come to you for pickup and delivery, with travel billed at $62.50 per hour each way. Or you can drop off and pick up in North Bellmore, with no travel charge. I’ll give you a realistic idea of travel time during your consultation, so there are no surprises.

You hand me the boxes, and I take care of the rest. You don’t need to sort anything first.

1. We talk. Your free photo consultation is by phone or Zoom, whichever you prefer. I’ll learn about your photos and goals, and share best practices and ballpark pricing.
2. You reserve your place. A $500 Project Start Payment holds time on my calendar.
3. I pick up your collection. I can come to you, or you can drop it off in North Bellmore.
4. You get a written estimate. I’ll inventory your collection and send a good faith estimate within 72 hours of pickup or drop-off. You can decide then whether to continue.
5. I sort and organize. I set aside duplicates and questionable photos, such as blurry shots, before anything is digitized.
6. You have the final say. You can review what I’ve set aside at any time and tell me which photos you want digitized.
7. I digitize your photos, one at a time. Every two weeks, you’ll get an update with photos, so you can see the progress and what I’m finding.
8. I make your collection easy to search. I add meta tags and keywords, then upload everything to your secure cloud library.
9. Everything comes home. You get your digital collection and every original back, including all the photos that weren’t digitized.

No. Every photo comes back to you, including duplicates and questionable photos.

Photos that aren’t digitized come back in a separate container, labeled with the album they came from.

You do. You always have the final say.

I’ll recommend setting aside duplicates and questionable photos, so you aren’t paying to digitize them. You can review those photos at any time and tell me which ones you want digitized. You’ll get them all back at the end of the project, or sooner if you ask. Even after the project is done, you can still have any of them digitized. It’s totally up to you.

A real example: One client came to me with almost 8,000 photos. During the organization phase, I set aside almost 2,000 duplicates and questionable photos that didn’t need to be digitized, saving that client a considerable amount of money.

Most projects take anywhere from 4 to 12 weeks, depending on the size of your collection and the current project queue. I'll give you a realistic timeline during your consultation, so you always know what to expect.

Absolutely, and I want to be fully transparent about how I work. Your photos are handled with the utmost care from the moment I pick them up or you drop them off. Each client's photos are stored in their own clearly labeled boxes in my dedicated home office workspace, so there is never any mixing with other clients' collections.

Once your photos are organized and digitized, your entire collection is uploaded to a secure, cloud-based library that is backed up and accessible only to you and whoever you choose to share it with.

I'm also a proud member of The Photo Managers, a professional organization that holds its members to the highest standards of care, ethics, and best practices in the industry.

Your memories are irreplaceable, and I treat every photo as if it were my own.

I'm Jerry Maurer, owner of Photo Fly Memories and a Certified Photo Manager based here on Long Island. I help families rescue and preserve photographs, photo albums, VHS tapes, 8mm film, and other family media by converting them into a safe, organized digital collection that can be easily viewed and shared on a TV, computer, tablet, or phone.

Being a Certified Photo Manager means I have professional training in the proper handling, organization, preservation, and digitization of family photo collections. I also follow a professional code of ethics, including confidentiality and careful stewardship of the irreplaceable materials families place in my care.

A local, personal alternative

If you're looking at services such as iMemories, one of the biggest differences with Photo Fly Memories is that you don't have to box up your irreplaceable family photos and ship them across the country. With me, you know exactly who is handling your family's collection from beginning to end.

I personally pick up your photos and media, bring them directly to my home office, and handle them with white-glove care. I treat every collection as if it belonged to my own family, because if something happens to an original photograph, album, videotape, or film, it may be impossible to replace.

I stay in touch throughout the project with updates every two weeks, including photos, so you always know where things stand and can reach me personally if you have a question.

And you don't need to have everything perfectly sorted before we get started. That's one of the reasons families come to me in the first place.

Once I receive and review what you'd like to start with, I’ll prepare a written good faith estimate within 72 hours of pickup or drop-off, and you can decide then whether to continue. From there, we can discuss what's most important to you, your budget, and whether it makes sense to complete everything at once or in stages.

Most importantly, my goal is to take something that can feel overwhelming and make the entire process easy, personal, and comfortable for you. I'd love to learn more about what you have and what you'd like to accomplish with your family's collection. Schedule your free photo consultation and we can go from there.